This invention is used for loading and packaging articles; more particularly, insulation batts or other similar type materials that proceed off an output conveyor of a production line.
One of the problems that occurs in the industry that produces insulation batts is the inability to be able to handle a great quantity of the insulation batts without employing a tremendous amount of physical space or without using individual labor at many points on the line. The present invention remedies both of these problems by automatically collecting and stacking the insulation batts as they proceed off a production line, moving the collection of batts into a compression chamber, compressing the batts and moving this compressed unit into a container. This improved apparatus can accomplish all of these jobs while the production line is moving at full speed and without the manual effort of individual laborers. This improved apparatus is also capable of being automatically adjusted so that if the thickness of the insulation batt is changed, the production line can still continue to operate at full speed.
An apparatus for handling insulation batts was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,824,759. This apparatus was a semi-automatic, batt-handling machine that addressed the problem of handling multiple insulation batts by allowing the compression machine to handle two adjacent stacks at once. This invention had batt compressing members for successively compressing these two adjacent stacks. This invention required at least one operator to collect the batts from the production line conveyor and deposit them in the twin stacks for the compression members.
Another apparatus for handling insulation batts was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,094,130. This apparatus utilized a sliding tray to move a first collection of batts forward into a bagging chamber. A second collection was sent into the chamber after the first collection was lifted up out of the way. Both of these collections are then compressed into a compact unit.